EN Summary: I am beyond thrilled to have my long time friend Paco being a Vogue Pattern Designer and I'm currently working on one of his patterns (V1526 view B): the designer shirt. Today I'll share my first impressions on the pattern, the fabric and notions and the cutting. I will also address my thoughts on the interfacing. Keep reading the full article!

EN: When I finally could put my hands on this pattern, the first thing I did was reading the instructions from start to finish and read through them once again. Someone who's familiar with Paco's work as a Couturier and pattern maker won't be disappointed with these patterns and Vogue did a great job with the instructions, they are Couture level and very thorough. Although most people would start with the jacket, my first love was this shirt/blouse; on the pattern envelope it reads only "Shirt has dropped shoulder and long sleeves with cuff" but there is so much more to say; the collar for example, it's a masterpiece: it's bias cut in one piece, folded along the collar edge and it is so smooth and elegant; there's a hidden in-seam buttonhole and button on the joining seam (collar/right front) which will allow several look options with this collar, buttoned up or not. The cuffs are simple rectangles extending the sleeves (no buttons), and the sleeves are slightly shorter (like 7/8 length) and there are actually two types of flat-felled seams covered in the construction: the shoulder and armhole seams are wider (SAs are cut accordingly) and the sleeve/side seams are narrower top-stitched flat-felled seams. The wide button placket along the front is actually a single piece with the shirt front, folded twice to the inside. The in-seam buttonhole construction is very cleverly done on the right front panel side, so you won't know it's even there with the top button undone. The single left-front chest pocket is slanted. In one word, this shirt speaks class to me and I decided to make it first.

EN: I told Paco my plans of starting with the blouse and my despair because the patterns were taking too long to arrive (they were held a little longer by Portuguese customs, I came to find out later), and he was so kind to have one of his copies of the pattern sent to me (signed and addressed to me personally!); he also sent me the same fabric he used for sewing his original shirt for Vogue (the one seen in the pattern envelope photo and McCall's website), the original buttons and his personal label! I'll be able to say my shirt uses the same fabric and buttons from the original designer shirt, how cool is that!?

The fabric is ivory tightly woven cotton shirting and the buttons are very elegant shell buttons.

The next photo shows my progress so far: I revised the pattern, cut size 14 according to my body measurements (the shirt isn't supposed to be close-fitting), steam pressed the fabric, and cut all the pattern pieces using the rotary cutter:

EN: I found a small glitch on the Vogue pattern collar piece and already reported it back to Vogue's customer's service: on my tissue paper pattern there seems to have been a grading error and the collar was too big (long) when compared to the neckline, extending the front edge. Back and shoulder notches are OK, though. The in-seam buttonhole markings were also too wide apart, not matching the same markings on the front piece. To correct this I measured the stitching line (not the cutting line) along the front neckline, from the shoulder point to the front edge (top edge of the finished placket) and compared it with the same stitching line on the collar, from shoulder point to finished collar edge (excluding the 5/8" SA on the collar). The measurement on the collar was bigger and I shaved off the difference from it, readjusting the large and small circles as you can see in the next photo. I did this on each edge of the collar. I could do it this way because it's a little amount and the collar curve is really smooth, otherwise I'd have to fold back the excess somewhere near the shoulder notch. Below you can see how much I've shaved off to correct the collar; the excess amount will vary with the size cut:

EN: The collar piece is the only indicated piece to be interfaced in the instructions and it makes sense; the cuffs wont have buttonholes and simply extend the sleeves, so unless you prefer a crisp effect, they really wont need interfacing, or just a very light one on the part facing the public. As to the collar, I really love that it is cut on the bias, yet the instructions show the interfacing cut on grain,... I prefer cutting the interfacing on the bias also. If using fusible interfacing, woven would be best and cut on the same grain as the collar. Block fusing the collar would also be a good idea. I also think sew-in interfacing cut on the bias would work great and I have some really nice cotton interfacing I might use instead of the fusible; simply cut and treat both layers (collar plus interfacing) as one.

Today I'll try to have the collar interfaced and ready and also do all the necessary markings on the other pattern pieces; after running some stitch and buttonhole samples I'll be ready to start sewing the blouse! Happy sewing to all, more later!

I've been eying this pattern as I love nothing more than a great white shirt. Paco's creations are divine and I can't wait to make one. I know yours will be wonderful and will teach me a lot specific to the pattern. Following closely.

Marysia Thank you! Regarding the collar pattern glitch, I am positive it has nothing to do with Paco: Vogue's CS first response stated that the master pattern was correct. Then they checked a tissue paper copy and came to the same conclusion as I did: there was a problem with the grading of the collar pattern. They said they would correct it and I sure hope they do.Hugs from Portugal,Tany

EN Summary: After cleaning up the lining on the sleeves and sleeve vent, I couldn’t help myself and finished the cuffs. I recorded a short movie on Instagram which will give you an idea of how it looks :). Then I proceeded with setting in the sleeves by hand. Keep reading to find out about my progress so far!
--- PT Sumário: Depois de fazer o acabamento do forro nas mangas e na abertura dos punhos, não resisti a terminar o acabamento dos punhos. Gravei um vídeo no instagram que vos dará uma ideia de como fica. Depois passei à parte de coser as mangas à jaqueta à mão. Continuem a ler para verem o meu progresso até ao momento!